{"id":868848,"date":"2026-08-26T08:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868848\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T08:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:50:24","slug":"wa-government-to-appeal-landmark-native-title-ruling-against-andrew-forrests-fortescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868848\/","title":{"rendered":"WA government to appeal landmark native title ruling against Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue faces a renewed legal battle over a record $150.3 million native title compensation payout, with the WA government confirming it would appeal the landmark Federal Court judgement.<\/p>\n

It comes after the Yindjibarndi native title group announced they would also appeal the amount awarded<\/a>, renewing a bitter dispute with Mr Forrest’s company.<\/p>\n

The Federal Court had found Fortescue liable for $150 million in cultural losses, and $150,000 in economic losses, plus interest.<\/p>\n

At the core of the dispute was the construction of four Pilbara iron ore mines without permission from the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation (YNAC).<\/p>\n

In a statement confirming its appeal, Attorney General Tony Buti said the state government supported “proper compensation” for the impact of mining on country.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tony Buti announced the appeal in a statement. (ABC News: Mya Kordic\u00a0)<\/p>\n

“It is important that we have clarity on the law to support future negotiations and native title settlements across the State,” he said.<\/p>\n

The WA government has refused to say on what grounds it is appealing the decision.<\/p>\n

During the case’s initial hearing, the state argued compensation should be no more than $10 million, while Fortescue sought a limit of $8.1 million.<\/p>\n

Legal battle<\/p>\n

The $150 million judgement was the culmination of an almost two-decades long legal battle between the Yindjibarndi people and Fortescue.<\/p>\n

Some Elders had expressed disappointment at the amount awarded when compared to the billions the mining company had made from its lucrative Solomon Hub mines, built on Yindjibarndi land.<\/p>\n

The operations have generated $80 billion in revenue for the miner since they began in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Scrubby<\/p>\n

Yindjibarndi Elders are disappointed at the compensation, given the revenue Fortescue gains from the Solomon Hub mines. (Supplied: Phil Davies, Juluwarlu \/ Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation)<\/p>\n

Traditional Owners and Fortescue had attempted to negotiate land use agreements in the past, but never reached a consensus.<\/p>\n

The state government’s decision follows YNAC’s own filing with the Federal Court on the same day, seeking a payout closer to the $1.8 billion lawyers argued the Yindjibarndi people were owed.<\/p>\n

In a statement, CEO Michael Woodley said the Aboriginal corporation’s decision to appeal came after a unanimous vote.<\/p>\n

“Our appeal addresses the Court’s rejection of a royalty-based measure of compensation for economic loss and its application of freehold value to our native title rights based on pastoral rather than mining use,” Mr Woodley said.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Woodley speaks at a Yindjibarndi community meeting in Roebourne prior to the decision. (ABC Pilbara: Alistair Bates)<\/p>\n

He said both Fortescue and the WA government had argued in court for lower compensation amounts.<\/p>\n

“The state government has a responsibility to also provide support and protection to the Yindjibarndi community from miners,” Mr Woodley had said.<\/p>\n

Fortescue has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue faces a renewed legal battle over a record $150.3 million native title compensation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,46,25962],"class_list":["post-868848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-perth","tag-wa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}